Sportsmen, Couple Fight A Range War

The Homeowners Sued, Saying A Nearby Shooting Range Is Noisy And Unsafe.

January 24, 2004|By Martin E. Comas, Sentinel Staff Writer

CLERMONT -- For more than 30 years, Bob Woodard and other outdoorsmen have gathered on a spit of land tucked along the western shores of Johns Lake to fish, camp and shoot their rifles.

It's a quiet spot, far from the bustle of traffic on State Road 50. During the day, hawks dive into the clear water to pull fish. At night, one can gaze up at a vast sky littered with stars.

The sportsmen are members of Marco Hunting and Fishing Club, a nonprofit group with about 150 members who, since 1973, have used the 7-acre tract to hone their outdoor skills.

"We've never had any complaints -- nothing," said Woodard, 67. "Not until all this dumb stuff started."

Not until last year, when Michael Lynch, 45, and his wife, Susan Puryear, 39, who live next to the property, said the club's shooting range is unsafe, noisy and a nuisance. They are suing.

"It disturbs my wife," Lynch said. "Sometimes she has to wear headphones in the house."

But this is more than just a story of a feud between neighbors. Much deeper, it shows how activities that have long been common in rural areas are slowly being pushed away by new homes.

"It's happening more and more," said Gregg Welstead, Lake's deputy county manager and director of growth management. "People envision rural country areas to be devoid of anything annoying. But that's not realistic."

With increasing development in that area, Welstead acknowledged that eventually the county may have to study whether to continue to allow the shooting range.

"Over the long term, it doesn't make sense to have a gun range in a developed area," he said.

The couple's main concern is not with the fishing and the camping, but that club members drive up any time of day, pull rifles from their trunks and unload shells at targets yards from their home.

According to their suit filed in May, the property does not meet the safety guidelines prescribed by the National Rifle Association, an organization that lobbies for gun-owner rights and endorses gun safety.

For example, a berm about 15 feet high behind the targets is too short, Lynch said, to prevent stray bullets from hitting motorists on Hartwood Marsh Road, about half a mile away. A bullet from a high-powered rifle can travel for miles at a trajectory, and there's nothing behind the berm to catch an errant shot, Lynch said.

Home builder Lennar Homes recently purchased about 440 acres with plans to build hundreds of homes near Hartwood Marsh Road. Several of those new homes will sit in line with the club's shooting range, Lynch said.

The couple is considering moving to Melbourne to escape the stress of hearing rifles. Lynch said his wife is four months pregnant.

The couple bought 7 acres in early 2000 and built a white three-story home a year later.

While his home was being built, Lynch said, "I did site visits five or six times, and there was nothing to tell me there was a gun range."

Woodard points to a sign tacked on a post in the pavilion that says shooting can only take place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Another sign lists 14 club rules regarding shooting guns at the range.

Most club members seldom use the shooting range, Woodard said, opting rather to fish or camp on the remote land that once was used to grow citrus.

"Shooting is not the predominant activity here," Woodard said. "But if you want a safe place to fire a gun, this is the place."

Marion Hammer, a lobbyist in Tallahassee who represents the NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida, said these types of lawsuits against shooting ranges are becoming more common in rural areas with encroaching development.

In 1999, Florida passed a law, with Hammer's support, that reads: "A person who operates or uses a sport shooting range is not subject to an action for nuisance, and a court of this state shall not enjoin the use or operation of a sport shooting range on the basis of noise or noise pollution."

Other states have passed similar legislation.

"It's sort of like airports," Hammer said. "Many people bought homes in subdivisions built on empty acreage near airports. So once they move into their new homes, they want the airport that's been there for years gone."

She said it's common sense for a prospective land buyer to know the area before purchasing a site.